SCHerZOid

Composed: 1989
Premiere:  University of Idaho, Moscow, ID, April 18, 1989
Recording: Centaur Records, 1993 - CRC 2138
Duration: 6 minutes
Instrumentation:  Solo French Horn

PROGRAM NOTES

The request for me to write a solo horn piece provided the ideal opportunity to explore the captivating beauty of the sound world that is particular to the French horn. Within that sound world are timbres that are highly contrasting. Consequently SCHerZOid is a study in opposites. It combines the contrasting sounds that the horn does so beautifully; the familiar, singing lyricism with the heroic and the aggressive. It also explores new sounds that are sometimes shocking and grotesque. The contrasting sections of the traditional scherzo form became in this scherzo continually more separate as the piece progressed until finally it seemed that the piece had assumed a complex life of its own.